Precast concrete beam



Dec. 6, 1960 C. R. CARLSON PRECAST CONCRETE BEAM Filed Sept. 2l, 1956INVENTOR.

United States Patent PREcAsT CONCRETE BEAM Carl R. Carlson, Harvey,Ill., assignor to Calumet Flexicore Corporation, East Chicago, Ind., acorporation of Indiana Filed Sept. 21, 1956, Ser. No. 611,225 1 Claim.(Cl. 50-82) This invention relates to a precast concrete beam and isparticularly applicable to concrete beams having steel reinforcement.

Precast concrete beams are widely used and are generally disposed inside by side relation. When disposed in this manner they may formceilings with the `upper surfaces forming a support for a floor or aroof. To have a unitary construction, it is customary to dispose groutbetween adjacent beam sides to cement the beams together. Frequently theprefabricated concrete beams will have their sides shaped to provideroom for grout.

In connection with the use of precast concrete beams to be disposed inside by side relation, it is frequently necessary to deect one or morebeams at intermediate portions for the purpose of leveling a particular4beam so that it registers properly with adjacent beams. This inventionis principally concerned with means and methods of deflecting beams toprovide a desired beam leveling action. While the invention isparticularly applicable to precast concrete beams, it is particularlyapplicable to prestressed beams, one example of which is disclosed andclaimed in United States Patent No. 2,299,070 issued to Rogers and Pricein October 1942. However other types of concrete beams may have theinvention applied thereto.

In order that the invention may be understood, reference will now bemade to the drawings wherein an exemplary embodiment illustrating theinvention is shown. It is understood that variations may be made both inthe beam construction and accessories without departing from the scopeof the invention except as defined by the appended claim.

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a concrete structure consisting ofa number of concrete beams or slabs with the present invention appliedthereto.

Figure 2 is a section showing one concrete beam embodying the presentinvention, the section being taken along line 2-2 of Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a section along line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a perspective detail showing two beams with one of the beamsbeing leveled up to the adjacent beam.

Figure 5 is a perspective detail of one of the eyes used in connectionwith a beam.

Figure 6 is a top view of the eye illustrated in Figure 5.

Referring first to Figure 1, 10, 11 and 12 are portions of precastconcrete reinforced beams. These beams are arranged side by side and aresupported at spaced regions, usually at the opposite ends. The top facesof the beams may provide a floor or roof surface for a building whilethe bottom faces of the beams may provide the ceilings for a room below.The beams are carried at one end on a fiat level surface, such as strip13 arranged on a suitable foundation 14 of masonry or other suitablematerial. At the opposite ends, the beams may be supported in a similarmanner. Where beams are very long, intermediate portions such as centralportions of the beam may also be supported.

One form of beam to which the invention may be 2,962,839 y Patented Dee.6,1960

applied has concrete body 16 of generally rectangular cross section.Each beam may have any desired number of steel reinforcing rods or wiresdisposed in any desired manner. In the form of the beam illustrated inFigure 1 and disclosed and claimed in the issued patent previouslyidentified, each beam may have reinforcing rods or wires 17, 18 and 19near the bottom and 20 and 211 near the top embedded in the concrete andextending longitudinally of the beam. In the finished form of the beam,wires or rods 17 to 21 may be prestressed or not as desired. The beamillustrated here and in the patent has longitudinal cored portions 22.As disclosed in the Rogers patent, this particular beam happensY to havea Width twice the thickness and the two c-ored portions 22 are sodimensioned as to make the total void of the order of from 40% to 50% ofthe Yentire beam section.

Top surface 27 of the beam is somewhat narrower than thebottorn surfaceso that upper side surface 28 of the adjacent beams are spaced apartwhen the beams are in abutting relation. Thus upper side surfaces 28 ofadjacent beams will form a channel longitudinally of the beams, whichchannel is substantially closed at the bottom by the lower portions ofthe beams. These channels will accommodate grout which may be pouredinto the same for locking the beams together. In the particular beamillustrated, each side surface 28 is provided with longitudinalextending groove 29 to improve the locking action.

In accordance with the present invention, one or more wire eyes 30 areembedded at intermediate portions of the length of the beam. Eyes 30 maybe disposed at what would normally be the central part of 'theunsupported beam. Thus where beams are supported at their ends only,this usually being the case, eyes 30 may be disposed substantially atthe center at or near the two sides of the beam. If desired, the eyesmay be disposed at regions other than the center. In fact in a long beamsuch as for example, 30 feet in length, eyes may be disposed say 10 feetfrom each end. The number and disposition of the eyes will varydepending upon the particular beam length and other factors. In general,a symmetrical eye location is preferred so that the beams may haveeither end disposed at the front, as seen in Figure l.

Since the particular precast concrete beam has steel reinforcement, eyes30 have body 31 with curved fingers 32 and 33 which may be hooked belowa reinforcing wire such as 20, 21 or both. These wires are near the topsurface of the beam illustrated. The eyes may be inserted into positionin the beam at any time before the concrete has set. During the castingof the beam, top surface 27 of the beam will be accessible, the castingform enclosing the beam on three sides to leave the top face open. Anexample of a casting form which may be used in manufacturing theprestressed beam disclosed herein is illustrated in United States Patent2,299,111 issued to Roger and Price on October 21, 1942.

Eye 30 is disposed in the beam so that bight 35 extends above surface 27of the beam. After the concrete has been cured, the eyes are locked intothe beam. When assembling beams embodying the present invention to forma beam structure, a particular beam may be leveled with respect to anadjacent beam by pulling up on one or more eyes. Thus as illustrated inFigures 1 and 4, wedge 40 may be disposed in an eye generallytransversely of the beam length. the wedge overlying two adjacent beams.By driving the wedge into the eye preferably in the direction from alevelled beam to one being leveled the particular beam in which the eyeis disposed will be leveled with respect to the adjacent beam. By havingall the beams provided with eyes. it is possible to level an entireassembly of beams after the beams have been positioned and prior to thelocking of the beams with grout. T he beam adjustment by means of theWedges and eyes may be carried on with, before or after grout has beendisposed into the channels between adjacent beams but prior to thesetting of the grout. It is of course possible that a highbeam may belowered in this manner. l After the beams have been permanently lockedinto position by the setting of grout, wedges 40 may be knocked out andthe protruding eyes may be hammered down against the top surface of thebeam. Furring strips 41 and flooring 42 may be disposed over the topsurface of the beam array, If desired, wire cutters may be used to cutthe protruding eyes.

Any kind of a hook or eye may be used. The gauge of the wire may varybut should be heavy enough to withstand the load imposed on it.

Instead of anchoring a hook or an eye to a prestressing wire near thetop of the beam, it is possible to anchor a hook or an eye to aprestressing rod or wire near the bottom of the beam. It is understoodthat the precast beam need not necessarily be cored. It will generallyhowever, be longitudinally reinforced by some steel. In other types ofbeams or even in the type illustrated, it may be desirable to have oneeye midway between the beam sides. It is also possible to have one ormore eyes extend from the bottom face of the beam.

What is claimed is:

A precast concrete beam having a top face and a bottom face whenproperly positioned for use and having longitudinal steel reinforcingmembers disposed within said beam adjacent the beam sides and near thetop face, said reinforcing members extending straight from one end faceto the other end face, said beam having intermediate its ends adjacenteach side at least one piece of wire bent to form an eye immediatelyabove the top face of the beam, said piece of wire having its endportions bent to form Vs hooked on to .the reinforcing member, the eyenormally being in a vertical plane parallel to the beam length, theV-shaped end portions for a wire lying in vertical planes transverse tothe beam length, whereby the eyes in two adjacent beams accommodate awedge which can extend transversely across the adjacent beam sides forleveling, said beam being adapted to be disposed alongside a similarbeam and after leveling to be locked thereto by grout between the sidesof thebearns, each` piece of wire being thin enough so that the eye canbe readily bent or cut away after the leveling, each piece of wire beingreadily positioned on a reinforcing member by lowering the V ends belowsuch reinforcing member and raising the piece of wire until the V endsare caught by the reinforcing member, said piece of wire beingpositionable on the reinforcing member without interfering with normalcasting procedure and without impairing the reinforcing function of thereinforcing member.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 712,670Haffner Nov. 4, 1902 837,793 Campbell Dec. 4, 1906 1,309,067 HeltzelJuly 8, 1919 1,778,315 Ferguson Oct. 14, 1930 1,902,796 Birdsey et al.Mar. 21, 1933 2,299,071 Rogers et al. Oct. 20, 1942 2,332,705 FellomOct. 26, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 173,545 Austria Dec. 27, 1952 506,650Belgium Nov. 14, 1951

